


Rustle of Leaves

by PFDiva, willowoak_walker



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Background Aria/Jacquie, Gen, Heiron Anime, Mako Trig up to his usual shenanigans, Mentions of Canonical Character Death, Politics, Post-Canon, Post-September Incident (COUNTER/Weight), Season: COUNTER/Weight, fixit fic, people get angry, the giant robots have arrived
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-05-07 01:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 15,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14660700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PFDiva/pseuds/PFDiva, https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowoak_walker/pseuds/willowoak_walker
Summary: Some days, Rigor's defeat seems Pyrrhic.Orth gets along all right, most of the time. But the way Mako works, the way people are using Cass' memory now that tine isn't here to object, the ... other people ... who died...Some days, it's easy to wonder if it was worth it.But the suns comes up and the worlds still spin.And AuDy left a legacy.





	1. A Seed

The first time Mako meets AuDy after Rigour, he thinks it’s a ghost in the mesh. Just one of those semi-autonomous programs AuDy left behind when they linked up.

Mako’s hunting through a Rigorous system, tearing the place down around him. In his metaphor, it appears as an assembly line filled with dangerous machines, precise, efficient, inhuman, and inhumane.

He almost bypasses the room. It doesn’t itch his mind the way the rest does. It isn’t Rigorous. But that rouses his curiosity enough that he has to dodge in. Just a moment. But he stops in the doorway, because — because it’s trees. It’s a forest. Roots and branches weaving through the gears and cogs of Rigor’s work. Slowing it. There’s a great groaning, and the central cog clicks a single step forward.

The trees shake, scattering seeds through the air. Through the intramesh of the company. And Mako catches one, and hides it in his pocket. He’s vibrating, now, with the urge to work, to get things done.

But he has a seed in his pocket and a part of the system he can leave un-ravaged.

He leaves the door open behind him. Leaves the wind with its scatter of seeds.

***

He hacks into himself. Larry isn’t there, but.

Mako knows what’s in there. He knows what drives him.

He steps through the chessboard left by Order and finds the cogs. The gears. The driving painful treadmills.

And in the ground between them he plants the seed. It’s already sprouting when he hacks himself out.

When he tries to sleep he can hear the first faint flutter of new leaves.

***

Orth’s phone rings. It’s a ringtone he never set for himself, which means it’s a Mako. No, there’s only one now. Only Orth’s Mako, the original.

“Yeah?” Orth mumbles sleepily.

“Someone’s gonna call you over here pretty soon,” Mako says. He sounds better than usual. As if maybe he’s slept.

“Oh, God, what did you do?” Orth asks.

“They were really bad, Orth, I’m not sorry,” Mako says. “It was all through their system. Even the executives! They normally keep themselves out of it.”

“Ahhh,” Orth sighs. “And where’s here?”

“Oh, Slate 9,” Mako says. “Which was kind of a hint, you know? Just, Service is trouble.”

“You are not allowed to drive Service into a sun,” Orth says reflexively.

“Awww,” Mako says, “But speaking of Divines, you will never guess what I found!”

Orth’s mind automatically turns to the worst of thoughts. Not Rigor, Mako would have lead with that, but — a copy of Righteousness? Of Grace? But Ambition reminds him gently that Mako would not be happy about those, either. “What did you find?” They ask together, Orth and Ambition.

“A system of AuDy’s!” Orth can almost see Mako, bouncing around a room without bothering to avoid the furniture or the walls. “It was in there, in the HR system, those trees that AuDy — that Liberty and Discovery — left in systems when they weren’t paying attention.”

“You know I don’t see the mesh the way you do,” Orth says, “But I’m glad. I — I see them go down, sometimes, when I dream. And it’s good to know they, they—” He stifles some non-speech sound down in his throat. “Left a legacy.”

“They’re building a statue on Apo-whatever,” Mako says. “Joypark.” Orth sighs.

“Go to sleep,” Mako says. “You’re allowed to do that now. This mess I made will still be here when you get here. I promise I didn’t break it that badly.”

“Go to sleep yourself,” Orth says, and Ambition glows with the memory of Zeal above his head. “You did a good job.” Mako laughs, just a little.

“Eh, I have things to do still,” he says. “But I thought I’d give you a heads-up. Maybe, when you get here, we can watch that anime you like or something.”

“Someday, Mako,” Orth says sleepily, “I will get you to cosplay as the druid.”

“You can be the paladin,” Mako says.

“No,” Orth says. “I won’t. Go to sleep.” Mako makes a kissy noise and hangs up.

When Orth wakes up there’s a train booked for him and his people, late that day, over to the spaceport where his new ship is parked. Orth takes it. He gets the call on the train. Some poor frazzled middle manager -- from HR, when Orth asks -- just had the entire company’s system crash down around her ears, and her superiors are screaming about industrial sabotage. About getting vengeance on their competitors, and --

And could Orth please do … something? She can only keep them from hiring mercenaries for so long before it becomes obvious.

Orth asks for all the information she has and promises that he’s on his way.

And he is.

And Offset and Takeoff field five more calls of the same type while they head toward Slate 9. Two from mercenary companies.

Mako doesn’t answer Orth’s calls, but the downloads of very illegal and proprietary data have his name all over them.

Until they don’t. Until one comes in that doesn’t come from Slate 9. For a moment, Orth thinks nothing of it, but then. Well. Mako’s on Slate 9.

Orth reads it three times. The situation comes clear in the shadowy shapes of leaves.


	2. A Sprout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A number of people have a rather interesting day.

Mako isn’t the one who calls Orth a cab. But he’s stepping out of a cab of his own as Orth arrives. Orth takes his hand, tucks it into the crook of his own arm. Keeps walking. Mako stumbles a moment before catching the pace that lets him keep up.

“Orth, I have work to do,” he says. But he says it in an undertone.

“Yes,” Orth says. “And I need you now.” Ambition makes a figure eight circling both their heads.

The person at the door gestures them in with a welcome. Mako twitches all through the silent ride in the elevator. Orth squeezes his hand and Mako steps closer. The poor staffer sent to welcome them politely ignores it, but their eyes are wide.

Mako notices their gaze at about the twentieth floor, snuggles in toward Orth’s side and winks at them.

The elevator opens to the wide, windowed conference room that Leopardtech Industries made available. Orth’s eyes sweep the room. Towards Kinder from Leopardtech is there himself, of course, but Indulgence and Invention sent some poor regional manager instead of CEO Alice Grain. I&I got hit hard and early, but still. Alice Grain was a marginally functional human being as of this morning.

The other three are smart. Gracious Mercia, the executive of Hermes Intermediaries, Abundance Equus from Graceful Divinity Incorporates, and Hera Lo from Biltwell are standing around trying to look unphased and failing badly. Mako twitches like a hunting dog smelling prey. Orth smiles at them all and greets them by name.

“Executive Godlove,” Kinder says, “Please, would you and your associate sit?” There are enough chairs. It’s a long elevator.

“I’m no longer an Executive for Oricon,” Orth says, and settles Mako in a chair before taking the one beside it. “It’s just Negotiator Godlove now.” He smiles. “Please, join us.”

They settle awkwardly into chairs. The sad regional manager from I&I is last to sit, and so lands next to Mako. Orth has finally placed him. Sobriety Lapel, actually native to Slate 9. Mako nods to him with a grin.

“Explain,” Orth says, and waits. The executives look around, one to another to another, not a one of them willing to speak. Really. Orth has been using this technique for some time now, and they still aren’t ready for it.

Sobriety Lapel coughs politely. “I’m afraid I can’t speak for anyone else, Negotiator Godlove,” he says, “But I was informed that I&I was concerned about industrial sabotage after our intramesh went down last week. I was sent to this meeting,” He takes a stack of papers out of the briefcase under his arm and taps them on the table to get them even. “I was sent to ask if you, Negotiator Godlove, could help I&I reach a … legal … agreement with whoever, um, damaged our system.” He adjusts the papers again. “We’re not currently trusting any meshed devices, so I’m afraid I had to bring everything in hardcopy…” He offers a couple of packets to Mako.

“Thank you, Mr Lapel,” Orth says. Mako passes Orth one of the packets. Orth glances over Mako’s shoulder -- identical. Lapel came prepared. He turns to look around the table. “And the rest of you?”

“Ah, much the same,” says Hera Lo from Biltwell. “Though, to be honest, we’d rather not have the culprit around any more. After we get our data back -- a few of our plans went missing.” Mako’s foot nudges Orth’s leg. Rigor tech, then. “We have back-ups, of course, but it’s inconvenient.”

“Indeed,” Abundance Equus from GDI says. “Though we would be interested in also discussing how Leopardtech has responded to this attack. Our system only went down two days ago, and they have already begun advertising a product suspiciously similar to our frontliner for the next release cycle.”

“Excuse me,” Kinder snaps. “We have no interest in your designs or plans. Our new product is designed to fill a need. If you also designed something for the same purpose, that is hardly our fault.” He pauses delicately. “And might be your best business decision in years.”

“I beg your pardon,” Equus snarls, “Your new product is a vast departure from all of your previous --”

“Your company’s name is rude,” Mako interrupts without looking up. Orth rubs his nose briefly.

“Please forgive my associate,” he says. Equus and Kinder are both gaping like strangled fish. “And Mrs Mercia? What is Hermes’ place in all of this?”

“We were attacked,” she says shortly. “And Leopardtech is putting out a version of our flagship product as well. Though we are direct competitors.”

Orth nods. “Thank you.” He turns to Kinder. “And thank you for hosting this discussion.”

“Our pleasure,” Kinder says between clenched teeth.

“No, it’s not,” Mako says. “Even though Orth is awesome. It can’t be your pleasure.” Orth blinks.

“Will you stop interrupting?” Gracious Mercia snaps. “Negotiator Godlove, what is this person’s place here?” Mako opens his mouth again, and Orth kicks him.

“Hey!” Mako says.

“Mr. Trig is here as an expert in both industrial espionage and Rigor tech,” Orth says. An abrupt silence falls.

“Was our system infiltrated by Rigor?” Sobriety Lapel asks in a voice so quiet that Orth has to resist the urge to ask him to repeat himself. Mako nods.

“Sorry, dude,” he says. “It totally was.” Sobriety looks shaken.

“Excuse me,” he manages, “I need, I think I need, to call my superiors.”

“Of course,” Orth says. He turns around in his chair and waves to Takeoff. “Find Mr. Lapel some water and a quiet place, please.” Takeoff nods, helps Lapel collect his notes. Orth turns back around. “Anyone else?” There’s a long silent moment, punctuated by the sound of the closing door as Lapel and Takeoff leave. Kinder looks genuinely concerned, but the rest are only guilty.

“What makes you think this person has any idea what he’s talking about?” Equus is going for spitting mad, but there’s a little too much scared there. Orth opens his mouth, but Mako cuts in first.

“Hey, Orth, have you been to Joypark?”

“No,” Orth says. “Aria was there, but I’ve never been. And it belongs to the Demarchy now, and they use its old Apostolosian name, which is,” he has to think about it.

“Apotine,” Mako says. “And there used to be statues of the Eidolons.”

“That Oricon took down,” Orth says.

“Yeah, and they’ve put them back up now,” Mako says. No-one is interrupting. “And you know what else?”

“What,” Orth says.

“A statue of US!” Orth glances around. Hera Lo knows what’s going on now. She’s gone pale.

“Isn’t there more than one copy of you?” Orth asks, knowing the answer.

“Oh, yeah!” Mako says. “I’m giving myself bunny ears! Aria sent me a picture.”

“Trig,” Mercia says, “As in the Stratus.”

“Yep,” Mako says. He leans back in his seat, crosses his arms, and grins.

“What does this have to do with anything?” Equus says. “You come in here with some rude man in a dreadful plastic shirt, and you claim that he’s, what, one of the heroes of the Rigor war? Mr. Godlove, you do not get--”

Every device she is carrying goes off at once. Loudly. Unlike Lapel, she brought a great many. Her VR rig snaps open and closed in front of her face.

“I don’t get to what?” Orth asks. Then he stands up. “Please stop that, Mako.” Mako stops, but Equus' VR rig remains both closed and dark, even as she fumbles for the release. “No-one gets to use Rigor tech. That is a law established in the treaties that followed the September Incident. Your companies have violated it. There will be consequences.”

“We have never,” Kinder protests. Orth holds up a hand.

“You may never have used Rigor tech directly, but you have stolen designs built using Rigorous technology.” He pushes back from the table and walks over to look out a window. “This world is not yours to ruin. There are a hundred thousand people out there, living their lives and doing their jobs. They do not need you to make it harder.”

When Orth turns around, Ambition hovers behind his head, casting his face in shadow. “I advise you all to resign. I will be investigating your companies further, as will officials of other governments.” He sighs. “There may yet be something we can save.” Mako picks up Lapel’s leftover papers and stacks them nicely in the same gesture Lapel used earlier.

“Eh,” he says, “Not sure there’s much worth saving.” Offset falls into step behind them as they walk toward the elevator.

Someone yells “Wait!” Orth turns to press the down button and faces the door.

He doesn’t say anything.

There’s a car waiting for them at the front door. Takeoff will catch up with them, but Orth sends him a text asking him to make sure Lapel gets someplace safe alive.

_can i take him back to my place_ Takeoff sends back.

_You have a place?_ Orth sends.

_i can get one._

_Whatever. Just be safe._

The moment Orth tucks his phone away the screen on the cab flickers on. Orth relaxes at the familiar notes of the opening theme of Seasons of Hieron. Mako flops against him.

“Now you’ll see why I don’t want to be the paladin,” Orth says. Offset stifles a laugh.

“No, I get why you don’t want to be Hadrian,” Mako says, “But--”

Offset laughs, and joins the argument on Mako’s side. Orth waves them into quiet as they approach the best part of the episode, but by the time the owlbear attacks Mako has fallen asleep to the rustling of leaves.


	3. A Stem

The second time Mako runs into AuDy after Rigor, he almost believes it. Indulgence and Invention got their new system from Liberty and Discovery Automaticorps, and … the whole thing is trees.

Mako, perched in the mesh version of Sobriety Lapel’s new office, studies his surroundings. There are trees, whispering familiar rustles. The sort of things Mako hears in dreams now. Mako runs a hand along a trunk. The bark flickers and becomes a display like a robot’s ‘face’.

 _Mako._ There’s a symbol something like the old Automated Dynamics logo, but more organic. Almost an impression of eyes. _This system is clean._

“Yeah, I know,” Mako says. “But someone messed with Sobriety Lapel’s calendar and he thinks I did it.”

The symbol fades away and is replaced by the calendar. Mako reaches for the trunk again. Nothing changes. He runs around touching trees for five minutes, but all he manages to wake is the system’s ICE.

“Fine,” Mako says eventually. “Be like that.” He kicks the forest floor in frustration, but the itch is driving him again, even despite it all, and he moves on to building the security system he came here to build. (It’s some respectable ICE. He works it in.)

***

Orth gets a letter. Takeoff hands it back over the front seat of the rented car without comment.

Offset takes it before Orth can and runs a series of tests.

“Clean,” she announces, and passes it over. Orth opens the paper envelope with a fingernail. The letter inside is the heavy seaweed paper used in official Apostolosian diplomatic correspondence, but when Orth opens it the screen of his com lights up. Just for a second.

 _Take Mako._ It says nothing more.

Orth reads the letter.

> _You are invited to a celebration of the birth of Apokine Cassander Timeaus Berenice of the House Pelagios. Even as we mourn kis loss, we also celebrate kis achievements, and seek to bring the Empire to the glory it experienced under kis rule._
> 
> _Please bring such stories of Apokine Cassander Timeaus Berenice as you would care to share with those who follow kinem._

There’s a time and a place, neither too far away. They have left Orth time to plan. He puts down the letter and takes a deep breath. In, and out. In, and out. Counting every second.

“You need me to reschedule this meeting, boss?” Offset asks.

“How long do I have?” Orth asks.

“Twenty-five minutes.”

“I’ll be functional by then.” Orth sighs and rubs his face with his hands. “Add this to my schedule. I’ll call Mako.” Offset nods. She takes the letter. There’s a long, stunned, silent moment.

“You’re going to this,” Offset says flatly. Orth nods. Offset shakes the paper and her head. “They even went back to the old Imperial paper recipe. The Demarchy uses a mixed hemp, cloth, and seaweed paper for official things.”

“Noted,” Orth says. “Should I tell them I’m bringing a friend or just show up?”

“Who’re you fucking up and how badly?” Takeoff asks from the driver’s seat.

“Some people who want to use Cass’ name to bring back the Apostolosian Empire,” Orth says. “And badly.”

“Who’re you bringing?” Takeoff asks.

“Mako,” Orth says. He leans back in his seat and begins mentally cataloguing his acquaintances in the government of the Demarchy.

“He’s awfully hard to pin down,” Offset says. “Are you sure you can bring him?”

“For this?” Orth says. “He’ll come.”

"Let him be a surprise," Takeoff says.

***

Mako’s phone rings. For a moment, he thinks it’s the physical device he has tucked in his pocket as part of his cover, but no.

It’s the one in his brain. Mako’s just waiting, anyway. The system he needs is physically locked, and he needs to get close enough to plant a target for later, so he needs this tour.

Mako ‘picks up his phone’.

_Hey Orth! Can’t really talk; working._

“Hi, Mako. I figured, but I need you to clear space in your schedule for me about a month from now.” Orth’s voice is tense in Mako’s mental ears.

_Sure, have Offset send me the details. Something the matter, old man?_

Orth sighs. “When you get it, you’ll understand. But if you have to go…” Mako checks his watch.

_I got five minutes. What’s up?_

“Some people want to use Cass’ name to justify restoring the Apostolosian Empire.”

 _No way! Tine hated that thing!_ Mako doesn’t have to look the Apostolosian pronoun up anymore. If only he’d mastered it while Cass was alive -- but guilt isn’t productive. Mako shoves it down, beneath the itch of Rigor. People using Cass’ name to pull bullshit, that’s the focus.

“Yes, way,” Orth says. Mako cuts him off.

_Did you just say ‘Yes, way’?_

“Yes, Mako, I did.” That’s the voice Orth uses when pinching the bridge of his nose isn’t helping.

_Nerd._

“You watch anime with me. You know I am a nerd.”

_Still._

“Fine. Anyway, these people invited me to bring Cass stories to the party. So I’m bringing you.”

_I’m not a story._

“No, but you know a lot.” Orth sighs. “And if you’re there with me we can make sure that we get them all.”

_Oooh, kick their asses, babe, I got your flower._

Orth chuckles. “And here I was planning to hold yours.”

_We can take turns._

***

Mako drops in on Aria. Literally. He flops off his hoverboard and through an open window into the conference room.

“Mako, I’m working,” Aria says as he pulls his board in behind him. It collapses down into a purse-sized package that Mako slings over one shoulder. One of the newer models.

“Yeah, I’ll only be a moment,” Mako says.

Aria gestures around the room. “We’re having a meeting, Mako. You should have scheduled one.”

“Yeah, hi,” Mako says. He waves generally at the gathered educators. “Oh, Professor Keho, right?” At the Professor’s nod, he grins. “I tried to save as much of your research as I could, it looks pretty cool, but there was mad contaminated tech in your lab building.” Professor Keho’s mouth drops open in horror, and Mako turns back to Aria. “There’s a party some Apostolosian shitheads are holding for Cass’ birthday. You should come.”

Aria pinches the bridge of her nose. “Mako,” she says. She should say more than that, but…

“Yeah, I’ll let you work,” Mako says, and kisses her cheek. “All my love to Jacqui and the kids. Orth says hi.”

“Orth actually sends me messages like a normal person,” Aria says. “You should come by for supper if you’re still on planet.”

“Kay, cool,” Mako says, and steps into the elevator. Aria’s guests watch the doors close on him -- he waves -- then turn astonished faces back to Aria.

“I apologize,” Aria says. “He’s just like that. Professor Keho, if you need to contact your lab, I completely understand. We can take a recess while you do so.”

“Was that really Mako Trig, the Stratus?” Keho asks.

“I’m afraid so,” Aria says.

“In that case,” Keho says, “I’d like to take you up on your offer.”


	4. A Leaf

“Did you see? Godlove brought his boytoy.” Mako’s eyebrow rises involuntarily. Coming early and bugging the banquet hall was a  _ good  _ idea. He tips his glass and scans the room. There. 

“I don’t think it can be a boytoy,” an Apostolosian in a tight blue sheath dress is saying. “Godlove’s asexual.”

“Asexual people can want sex,” the person who said Orth brought his boytoy says. They’re a tall Apostolosian with bright green hair. Mako runs face recognition on both of them. 

“Yes, but I don’t think they’ll keep someone around just for that,” blue dress -- Auxentios Euanthes Benefices -- says. Second generation royalist, at least -- Euanthes wasn’t a common name before Cass’ sibling. 

“Perhaps he’s  _ really  _ good,” green hair -- Kallikrates Zoe Roxana -- says, “Or maybe he’s just what Orth can get.” Mako has been angry since he first heard about this party, but that, from a person who is blacklisted by several sex-workers’ unions, is enough to have him seeing red.

He deposits his drink on the tray of a nearby serving drone, which hands him another. Mako glances down at the glass. A tall green goblet, the kind that the strongest alcohol is served in. (Possibly on the theory that if you drop it you’re too drunk to have any more.) More alcohol is the last thing Mako needs, and he knows it, but -- 

His cautious sip reveals it to be water. Mako turns to look for the serving drone. They don’t have identifying markers, and there are three close enough to be the one he’s looking for. He could hack their system -- that’s actually a good idea. He’s looking for a place to jack in when he catches the next part of the conversation.

“Never mind Godlove’s love life, or lack thereof,” Auxentios says, “Is he dedicated to restoring the Apokine’s plan?”

“He knew Apokine Cassander personally,” Kallikrates says, “During kis time on Counterweight.”

“Yes?” Auxentios makes an encouraging gesture.

“He’s here,” Kallikrates says, “Which is promising. But he may have been deceived by the Apokine’s apparent reluctance--”

“I know I shouldn’t expect a lot of respect for consent from someone who’s been blacklisted by multiple sex workers’ unions,” Mako says over however Kallikrates meant to finish that sentence. “But this is excessive. You admit that Cass didn’t like the Empire, then use tiens name to support your effort to reinstate it.” 

“ _ Kis, _ ” Auxentios says. Mako shakes his head.

“I spoke with Cass while tine was Apokine, and that’s the pronoun tine used then,” he says. He tips his head to one side. “Though I admit tine didn’t correct people on formal occasions, so I can’t blame you for misunderstanding, Mx. Auxentios.”  _ As much as I want to.  _

“Ah, you have the advantage of me, Mx. …?” Auxentios says, making a wide, open handed gesture of invitation.

“Mako Trig,” Mako says and does the little bow. Without spilling his drink, and that took practice.

“Mx. Trig,” Auxentios says. “I take it you are not here to support the restoration of an Apostolosian empire?”

“Oh,  _ hell  _ no,” Mako says. He beams at them like he's found Rigour tech in their personal computer. They are appropriately taken aback. “Cass would disown me. Not that tine is actually my parent, but tine would still disown me.”

“Oh,” Auxentios says. They step back. Their gills flutter in a way that Cass’s used to when tine was thinking hard. They give Mako a little bow -- not the usual one. A little deeper than that. “Ah, please excuse me, Mx. Trig…” Mako nods and gives them a little wave.

He hadn’t expected to make any of them think.

“You  _ slimeball _ ,” Kallikrates hisses. They step forward into Mako’s space. Mako’s hand goes to a gun he isn’t wearing. He hadn’t expected to feel physically threatened at a society party. “How  _ dare  _ you make annem doubt the cause?”

Mako shifts his grip on the glass. He can throw it, create a distraction, get -- a massive hand falls on his shoulder.

“Hi, Jacqui!” Mako’s voice is squeaky with relief. 

"Mx. Kallikrates," Jacqui speaks over Mako's head in a way that would be really annoying if she wasn't saving his ass, "I hate to steal Mr. Trig, but I can't seem to find his escort.  If you'll excuse us?"

When they're out of earshot, Mako complains.  "I had it under control!"

"Sure you did."

"I did!"

“A gunfight would certainly have distracted Aria,” Jacqui muses. “But I don’t know that--”

“They weren’t armed!” Mako says.

“I meant  _ you _.” 

“Neither am I,” Mako says. “I mean, not that way. Not the way you are, either.” He grins up at Jacqui. She rolls her eyes. “And when they attacked me, it was going to discredit the hell out of them.”

“I’m sure we can find a better plan,” Jacqui says. “But if we can’t get the gang all together again, it won’t matter.”

“Change of plans?” Mako asks.

Jacqui nods. “Orth got a tip. If we can  _ find  _ him we can sort things out, but…”

“There he is,” Mako says, pointing. “I can always find Orth.”

Jacqui looks the way he points, staring at the crush of people that completely blocks Orth from view. She looks down at Mako and raises an intimidating eyebrow.

“It’s the Divine,” Mako says. “I’m a Stratus.” Jacqui snorts and shoves her way through the crowd.


	5. A Twig

Orth is cold angry. Ambition circles below his chin, giving him the look that people telling ghost stories aim for. 

Mako steps to his side. Ambition bumps his shoulder briefly, sending him the raw data. Mako rolls through it. Damn, damn, damn. This is not a thing that should be happening. 

“We make a nice target,” Orth says. The other guests are sensibly staying far away from the fury in his eyes.

“It’ll take them a while to set up,” Jacqui says.

“Start now,” Aria says. “Preempt them.”

Mako pulls down the projector and turns the lights off and the slideshow on. There’s a startled murmuring throughout the crowd, but they turn to the show.

_ *** _

_AuDy’s in the_ Kingdom Come _’s cockpit with Mako leaning over their shoulder. He’s young. AuDy still has their arm and antenna._

__ _ “Yeah,” Mako says as the door opens behind him. “Their Royal Highness should be right here.”  _

__ _ “Don’t call me that,” Cass says as tine walks up and enters the camera fully. _

__ _ “What, you are a princex or whatever, aren’t you?” Mako says. He turns his head almost sideways. _

__ _ “Not anymore,” Cass says, “And I’m glad of that. Trying to keep you three out of trouble is more than enough work for anybody." _

_ *** _

__ _ Security camera footage with the date in the bottom -- a year before the September Incident.  _

__ _ “So, your Highness,” _

__ _ “Cass.” _

__ _ “Really?” _

__ _ “Yes.” _

__ _ A sigh. “What are you doing here?” _

__ _ “I want to talk to --” a staticy noise where Mako had edited out the name.  _

__ _ “Not on Apostolosian diplomatic business?” _

__ _ “I’m not a diplomat.” Cass raises tiens hand. “Nor am I royalty, except technically.” _

__ _ “You’re wearing a literal crown.” _

__ _ “It’s how I communicate with my mech.” Cass leans forward. “I need to speak to ---.” _

__ _ “I could let an Apostolosian scion in.” _

__ _ Cass sighs and raises a hand to tiens regalia. “What a pity.” _

_ *** _

__ _ Cass in a shaky home video camera, lounging over Aria’s shoulder to steal her chips. Tine looks up.  _

__ _ “Oh my god, Mako, put some pants on!” Mako, off camera, cackles. _

_ *** _

Someone -- Helia Zosimus Demostrate, voice recognition said -- yelled “Stop this insult!” at the screen. The people near them shush them, but there is a mutter of agreement.

Mako ignores it. Just turns up the sound a little.

_ ***  _

__ _ Cass on the grainy screen of a shoddy interstellar call.  _

__ _ “Hey, congratulations,” Mako says. Cass winces. _

__ _ “I guess.” _

__ _ “Okay, it was chance that you were in the pool,” Mako says, “But you got chosen out of it!” _

__ _ “Yeah,” Cass says. “Chance. Absolutely no-one trying to bring back the old Empire.” _

__ _ “Aw, don’t be like that,” Mako says, “Integrity had their hand in picking candidates.” _

__ _ “But not in deciding who was eligible.” Cass sighs and runs their hands through their hair. “And I doubt I can talk the council into changing the rules.” _

__ _ “Aw, isn’t democracy wonderful?” Mako asks. Joking. _

__ _ “Better than the alternative, I think,” Cass says. Tine stands and paces. “This could go really badly.” _

__ _ “Hey!” Mako says. “You can get people ready for Rigor!” _

__ _ “Yes,” Cass says, and nods sharply. “There’s that.” _

__

_ *** _

__ _ The mech the _ Apokine _ silhouetted against a starfield. Nowhere Mako knows. The flash of Aria’s laser sword. _

__ _ “So what’re things like in the Demarchy these days?” Aria asks.  _

__ _ “Going well, by and large,” Cass responds over a communications channel, and strikes for Aria with the  _ Apokine’ _ s spear. The camera shifts as Aria dodges. “And in the Vanguard?” _

__ _ “We’re working on it.” Aria laughs. “Sometimes I wish I came from a legacy like yours. It would give me more leverage.” _

__ _ “Eidolons, Aria,” Cass says, tiens voice edged with anger now. “Don’t.” _

__ _ “I know you hate it, Cass,” Aria says. “I know.” _

__ _ “I  _ hate  _ this job,” Cass says. “I  _ refuse  _ to pass it on to my children.” _

__ _ “That’s fair,” Aria says. “That’s fair.” _

_ *** _

__ _ Another security video, this one from three months before the Rigor War. Maxine Ming and Cass sitting next to each other in a garden. Holding hands. _

__ _ “You should stay for a longer visit,” Maxine says.  _

__ _ “When this is over,” Cass says. “When I’m just a person again.” Tine looks tired.  _

__ _ Maxine turns to face tinem fully. “You’re always a person.” _

__ _ “I don’t feel like one,” Cass says. “I feel like a tool.” _

__ _ “Like the  _ Apokine _ ,” Maxine says.  _

__ _ “What?” _

__ _ “Your mech. Doesn’t it hear every Apostolosian?” _

__ _ “Not clearly,” Cass says. “And, Apole, I have to figure out what to do with it when I’m done. No-one expected Sokrates to give up Integrity, of course, but the  _ Apokine  _ is an entirely different matter.” _

__ _ “Sh,” Maxine Ming says. “No work. I want to show you my garden.” _

_ *** _

There’s an “Awwww” from somewhere in the crowd, hurriedly shushed.

***

__ _ Cass, staring at a camera from a room with the view of the night sky of the capital of the Demarchy out the window. “Maxine, if you’re getting this, the worst has happened.” Tine rubs tiens face with one hand. Scratches at the edges of the scales there.  _

__ _ “If you’re getting this, either Euanthes or I have been declared Emperor. I’m begging you, throw your weight behind the rebellion. Behind the opposition. If Sokrates is alive --” _

__ _ Tine sighed. “You can trust olm. But I can’t imagine anyone would have been fool enough to let olm live.” Tine shook tiens head. “I’m probably just being morbid. I’m sure this won’t happen. I’ll run away before --” _

__ _ Another headshake. “If it’s me, they’ve got me under some kind of control. Please, feel free to kill me if you need to. I hope you won’t have to, but --” Tine scratched at tiens scales again, then pulled tiens hand away. _

__ _ “I … I hope I never have to send this. Maxine, I -- I would have liked to have a life with you.” Tine swallowed visibly. “Be safe.”  _

_ ***  _

The shouting is more than one person, now, completely covering the sound of the next little video. Mako shrugs -- that one was pretty much the climax, but he liked the video of Cass eating fried plantains and complaining about monarchy to Sokrates too much not to include it.

Someone jumps for the projector and falls hard into another group of people. There’s cursing.

Orth steps up to put his hand on Mako’s shoulder. “Start this one over,” he whispers in Mako’s ear. 

Mako does. 

***

__ _ Cass dunks a chunk of fried plantain messily into liquid chocolate. “You’re right, of course,” tine says. “This is dangerous. But I don’t trust anyone who came up enough to-- _

_ ***  _

Someone shuts down the power to the projector, but Mako has the backup ready. It's up again in under a second.

***

_ “I don’t trust anyone who came up enough to step down from the running.”  _

__ _ Sokrates nods. “I understand, Cass, but you’re going to have to make a long-term plan. You’ll have to--” _

***

Someone who really doesn’t understand how projectors work tries to tear the screen down. Cass and Sokrates’ faces deform for a moment before a couple of serving drones herd the would-be vandal away.

***

__ _ “--Trust somebody eventually,” Sokrates’ recorded voice goes on undaunted. “You know I can’t let the Empire reform.”  _

__ _ “I know,” Cass says, leaning back in tiens chair. “Thank you.” _

*** 

There’s the sound of crashing glass that Mako’s been waiting for, and all hell breaks loose.


	6. A Bud

Orth shoves Mako under a table as the windows shatter. Mechs. Ambition had caught the would-be assassins’  _ ambitions,  _ not their plans. 

Mako had kind of been hoping they wouldn’t bring mechs. After all, bringing mechs into a high society party was kind of overkill. 

Mako could see Jacqui from under the table. She slammed one of her hands into a mech’s chest and left some of her explosive behind.

Maybe not overkill at  _ this  _ party.

The mech exploded, and Mako took its place in the assassins’ communication network.

“Damn that fucker,” someone spat.    
“All on her,” the commander said. Mako looped the commander’s com so that it just repeated that endlessly and went to work. 

Five of the assassins were in Colossi-sized mechs, all the same model. Jacqui blew another one, and Mako copied that sensor data into the other four. They tumbled down, screaming. It wouldn’t keep them down indefinitely, but Aria’s Queen’s Gambit and a rook Mako had pulled in for Orth should be arriving through the window any moment now, so that didn’t matter.

Mako turned to the big guns. 

It was a big, fuck-off mech that didn’t really fit in the building. Apokine-sized and oddly familiar. Mako tugged at the corners of its systems, wondering why --

__ _ “Shit.”  _ Someone had copied the Megalophile. Someone had copied  _ Cass’ mech  _ and was using it to  _ try to kill Aria.  _ And  _ Orth  _ and  _ Jacqui  _ and a bunch of other people, and --

Ambition flew straight at the cockpit, smashing into the duraglass of the window. Smashing straight through.

Mako dragged the fake Megalophile to its knees and locked it there. Orth was in his rook, Aria was in the  _ Gambit  _ and -- fuck, Mako forgot to call one in for Jacqui. She was doing just fine without, but she was going to tease Mako over it for years.

Hands grabbed at the back of Mako’s shirt and  _ pulled.  _ Mako fell over, hitting his head on the underside of the table while whoever it was pulled him out. It wasn’t Orth, or Aria, or Jaqui, Mako knew where they were, and anyone else was an enemy, so Mako swung an elbow backwards at them.

He had a bad angle. He hit his funny bone on the  _ tableleg _ and flailed even more wildly. This had the advantage of making it harder for his kidnapper to put the bag thing on his head.

Not enough harder, though.

Mako’s captor dragged him up by his collar, keeping him unstable. 

Pressed something hard and cold to the side of his head. 

“ALL STOP.” The yell so close to Mako’s ears made his head spin. The sounds of battle quieted. One last stray explosion, and then whimpering. “If you want your boy-toy alive, Godlove--” Mako’s captor says. Aw, man, Mako just got himself captured by Kallikrates Zoe Roxana. That is so embarrassing. “--You’d better stay there and lower your weapons.”

The rook  _ is  _ a weapon, but Mako doesn’t say that because he is a grown adult with self control. Also his face hurts. 

“I’m listening,” Orth says. Mako’s running rapid calculations, but the gun to his head has absolutely nothing electronic in it. For all  _ he  _ knows, it’s a fork. 

Yeah, he can’t make himself believe that.

“What do you want?” Aria snarls.

“Oh, that’s very simple.” Mako can hear Kallikrates smirk. “I want you to-- aaaagh!” Kallikrates moved the gun to gesture when they started smirking, and -- well, an elbow to an Apostolosian’s groin may not be as effective as one to a human’s, but it’s effective enough. And Mako’s short. He throws himself bodily  _ backward,  _ hoping he’s not right in front of a chair. 

He isn’t. He drags the bag off his head to get his bearings. Kallikrates is still screaming.

But now that was probably because a serving mech is crushing their gun -- and their gun hand with it.

“Thank you, AuDi,” Orth says.


	7. A Branch

Mako pulls himself up and dusts his shirt down. He spreads his mind out over the mesh for a moment, catching another three mechs -- these so small they’re more suits of powered armor. He grounds them, locking them in place around their pilots. 

“Cass doesn’t want the Empire to come back,” AuDy in the serving drone’s body says. “Stop using tiens name for this.” 

“ _Does_ n’t?” Orth says.

“AuDy,” Aria says urgently, leaning the  _ Gambit  _ forward, “AuDy, that’s the present tense.” But the serving drone lowers its arm and announces that it will fetch a medical professional, please stay right there, honorable guest. Very obviously back to its original programming.

Mako sighs and rubs his head. “There’s three more mechs grounded outside,” he says. “I suspect they were involved in this, but there is a possibility that--” Orth raises his hand to cut Mako off.

“Ambition says they want me dead.” Mako nods. Jacqui, leaning against the  _ Gambit, _ yawns. 

“Mako,” she says lazily, “You forgot to get me a mech.”

“You  _ really  _ don’t need one,” Mako says, and sits down. Kallikrates has been reduced to whimpers. No-one reaches out to help them.

“I apologize for putting you in danger,” Orth says mildly to the crowd. “I was unaware of any plots against me or Representative Joie-Green more urgent than usual.”

“Given the timing,” Aria says, popping out of the  _ Gambit  _ to join her wife, “I have to wonder if it was a response to your opinion of the Empire.”

“Ha,” Orth says. “Has anyone called emergency services?” Three hesitant hands go up. “Excellent,” Orth says, and nods to them. “Show me these other mechs, Mako, I have some questions to ask.”

“They’re outside,” Mako says, and heads through the broken window behind the fake  _ Megalophile.  _ Orth follows him, rookless.

But with Ambition still circling his head like a halo that can break through duraglass. And Mako never  _ really  _ forgot it was a Divine, but -- it didn’t do much.

Perhaps it simply hadn’t needed to.

 

Mako’d locked the latecomers into a kneeling position. Orth walks over to the first one and taps the glass of the closed helmet as politely as if he were knocking on a door.

The pilot opens it before Mako loses patience and opens it for them. 

“What do you  _ want _ ?” They snarl.

“Who sent you to kill me?” Orth asks. 

“We sent ourselves.”

“Who among you is the leader?” Orth asks.

“Tea has the honor to pilot the  _ Megalophile _ ,” the pilot says.

“Whoops,” Mako says, “I think Ambition killed that guy.”

The pilot’s eyes flick upward to the glowing orb. Which is a little wet, right now, with something dark and sticky. 

“Why did you decide to kill me?” Orth asks.

“What makes you think it’s  _ you  _ we came to kill?” Orth catches Ambition in its orbit of his head. He holds it wordlessly out. The pilot’s eyes close for a moment. Resignation?

They try to bring up the mech’s weapon again, fighting Mako’s hold over its systems. 

Desperation. 

“No point in that,” Mako says. 

“It can’t make the situation any worse to be honest with me,” Orth says. The pilot looks away. 

Orth leans in, so close that the mech’s helmet interrupts Ambition’s orbit. “I know you want to live,” he breathes. “Why do you want me dead?”

The pilot stammers. “You, you -- you  _ Oricon! _ ”

Orth steps back and sighs. “You know,” he says, turning to Mako, “I’d hoped for an interesting answer.”

“You defile everything ki stood for!”

“Let’s leave them for the cops,” Orth says, turning away. Mako closes the mech’s faceplate. 

“You gonna talk to the rest?” Mako asks. Orth rubs his hands over his head. There’s blood on one from where he held Ambition. Mako steps up to him, catches that hand. Wipes the blood away. He sighs with relief when the skin beneath it is unharmed. 

“What?” Orth says. 

“I was worried you were hurt,” Mako says, and wipes his hand on his stupid fancy pants to get the blood off of it. He looks up and -- the changing light Ambition gives Orth can make his face look  _ really _ strange sometimes. 

But it isn't just Ambition's light this time. Orth grabs Mako’s shoulders tightly and half-snarls. “You were worried  _ I  _ was hurt?  _ I  _ wasn’t the one with a  _ gun to his head! _ ”

“I’m fine!” Mako says. “I got away!” 

Orth pulls Mako close with one hand and puts the other on the back of his neck. Ambition hovers behind Mako’s head, giving Orth’s face strange shadows. The hand on the back of Mako’s neck moves up to ruin Mako’s carefully spiked hair.

“Ow!” Mako says. “What are you doing?”

“Checking for injuries,” Orth says. “You’re not bleeding here. Look at me.” Mako rolls his eyes but looks. The way Orth stares into his eyes could almost be romantic, if it weren’t for --

There are so many reasons it isn’t romantic. But with Orth’s hands on his head and his shoulder and Ambition hovering between their heads, Mako can’t think of a single one. He swallows.

“Your pupils dilate evenly,” Orth says. “Not concussed.” He sighs. Takes half a step forward, closing the distance between them. Mako wraps his arms around Orth and squeezes. “Next time,” Orth says, “I’m going to find a better place to hide you than under a table.”

“Thanks,” Mako mumbles. Rigor spins up in his head -- and this time it has a point. They are literally standing in front of a bunch of mechs that Mako is holding harmless by force of will alone. “You gonna interrogate those guys?”

“One of them might know something,” Orth says, and sighs. “Let go, Mako. We have some people to terrify.”


	8. A Flower

“I hate Rigor!” Mako yells, and kicks at Aria’s couch. “I hate it so much! It’s dead, but it still lives in my head and makes demands, and --”

“I was  _ hugging Orth. _ Orth was  _ letting me  _ hug him! And Rigor was like ‘noooooo, you can’t have a moment of emotional intimacy with someone you care about, that’s not  _ productive _ !’ Yelling isn’t productive either! It wants me to stop and do something! It’s only because I have AuDy in there too that I can even  _ sleep _ !”

Aria is curled up on her couch, watching Mako pace and rant with a mixture of concern and alarm.  Well, neither the couch nor his foot are broken, so it could be worse. Jacqui pokes her head in through the doorway from the kitchen, then carefully withdraws. It isn’t a good time for their announcement. 

With Mako it never is.

“Mako,” Aria tries.

“Don’t worry about me,” Mako says, waving his hands energetically. “It’s not really Rigor, it’s just … a residue. Like a film of oil on a dirty glass or something.”

“That’s not actually comforting,” Aria says. “But what I meant to say was -- Orth hugged you?”

“He let  _ me  _ hug  _ him, _ ” Mako corrects firmly. “He was just checking my head.” Mako sits down next to her, folding his feet up under him in true Mako-fashion. “But he was standing close, so I -- seized the moment.”

“Good for you!” Aria says. “You both need more hugs.” Mako bounces up again. 

“Yeah, I know, I just -- AuDy!”

“What, where?” Aria asks. They must be nonphysical at the moment, because all Aria sees are the walls of her hotel suite. The television isn’t even on.

“I don’t know,” Mako says, “But they’re  _ alive,  _ Aria!” Mako grabs her hands and pulls her off the couch to dance in a wild and delighted circle. “They’re  _ alive  _ as a  _ person _ , not just fingerprints! Not that AuDy ever had fingerprints, but you know what I mean.”

“I really don’t,” Aria says. 

“I’ll find them,” Mako says. He kisses her cheek. “I’ll find AuDy and I’ll talk to them and I’ll bring them back!” Mako bounds away, unfolding his hoverboard as he skips out to the balcony.

“What if they don’t want to come?” Aria yells after him, but he’s already gone. A streak of blue-green up through the sky. Aria grabs the balcony’s railing, staring after the vanishing figure. Not for the first time, Righteousness murmurs that Mako could be won over to their side with a few not entirely untrue words. Not for the first time, Aria rejects the suggestion. “I hope he knows what he’s doing,” she says.

Jacqui’s arms reach around her, and Aria leans back. “Hello, love,” she says.

Jacqui kisses the top of Aria’s head. “Rigor’s in his mind.”

Aria nods. “So’s AuDy, though.” She sighs. “I think he thinks of it as just another computer sometimes -- his mind. Himself.”

Jacqui sighs, too, the rise and fall of her chest shifting Aria where she leans back against her wife. “Turn on the news. There are some things you’ll want to see.” Aria squeezes her wife’s hand, and they go back into the room together.

 

***

 

The screen turns on to Orth’s calm face. He’s gotten a lot better at press conferences. This televisor’s lights are doing a better than usual job of accounting for Ambition’s orbiting glow. Offset and Takeoff stand behind him, armed with Offset’s inevitable clipboard and Takeoff’s gleeful smile.

“-- Relieved to hear there was so little collateral damage,” Orth is saying. “Jacqui Joie-Green is the only person I know who can win a mech-fight without a mech.” Beside Aria, Jacqui grins. “I’m very interested in where the--” Orth pauses, glancing up at Ambition. It’s a tick Aria recognizes. Her own Divine has no physical location, but she’s sure her face goes strange when she consults Righteousness. The interviewers, lacking Aria’s experience with either Orth or Divines, don’t catch it. “Attackers,” Orth continues diplomatically, “Got their mechs.”

“Speaking of mechs,” an interviewer says, “You said, in the aftermath of the attack, that you were unaware of any threat to you or the representative ‘more urgent than usual’.” Orth nods. “How urgent are usual threats that you keep your mechs on hand?” Offset snorts into her hand. Orth looks momentarily confused. The pause is noticeable. 

Takeoff passes Offset something. Jacqui grins. “They bet on what Orth will notice isn’t normal,” she says.

“Normally they don’t have a mech the size of that fake  _ Megalophile, _ ” Orth says. He shrugs. “If the attackers hadn’t brought that, Jacqui could have taken the whole lot out by herself.” 

“Don’t you dare claim I’m all the bodyguard you need,” Jacqui says to Aria, stern as stone. Aria kisses her fingers. 

“Of course not.” She smiles up at her wife. “I want your attention on me.”


	9. A Trunk

It’s back to Slate 9, back to the first place Mako found traces of AuDy after Rigor. The whole system is flooded with trees, now, but Mako can trace back to the oldest part of the forest. Find where AuDy touched down and, maybe, find out what AuDy was doing there at all. He hadn’t wondered that last time.

He probably should have.

The only good thing about Rigor is that doubts aren’t  _ productive. _ Mako heads back into Indulgence and Invention’s HR department, where he’d found AuDy’s trail the first time. The forest had spread from an email account. Whichever particular email started the jubilee has probably been deleted but --

Well, that’s a stroke of luck.

AuDy’s virus came in on a complimentary email thanking someone for their good work and patience. Mako cackles. AuDy is so bad at compliments, this is hysterical. Mako traces the email back to the person who is so good at compliments that the people they compliment don’t delete their emails.

Apparently he’s going to a bank. 

AuDy got into the bank with a money transfer. A money transfer going to, of all places,  _ Jackson.  _ Now what would AuDy want in Jackson? In a -- Mako does a little more research -- a Jacksonian  _ fleshhouse. _

What would a  _ disembodied mesh intelligence _ want with a place that sells  _ bodies. _

“Oh, come  _ on, _ AuDy!” Mako says. “There’s gotta be a better way to do this than  _ that.” _ But then again, depersonal cloning is illegal pretty much everywhere. For good reason, of course, because basically everything you can do with a depersonal clone is a Bad Thing, but it does limit AuDy’s options.

Or maybe Mako’s completely misinterpreting things!

Anyway, he’s going to Jackson.

Uuuuugh.

 

***

 

Mako calls Orth because he cares about him. Also because Orth might want him to do something on Jackson. But mostly because Mako cares about Orth.  _ Not  _ in a boy-toy way. Mako isn’t  _ anyone’s _ boy-toy, and Orth wouldn’t want one anyway.

“Hello, Mako,” Orth says. He’s a little frazzled.

“Hi, Orth,” Mako says. He tosses a pair of underwear into his suitcase. Doing two things at once is  _ productive. _ “Since AuDy’s alive I’m going to Jackson.”

Orth blinks. “What does AuDy want on Jackson?” Why are there socks under Mako’s bed. There are always socks under Mako’s bed and he still hasn’t figured out why. They're a matched pair, too, folded up the way Cass made Mako do it.

“A body,” Mako calls in the direction of the pickup. 

“But why go to  _ Jackson? _ ” Orth asks. “AuDy could get a chassis just about anywhere they wanted.”

“Not a chassis,” Mako says, facing the camera. “A  _ body. _ Or at least, AuDy’s paying a lot of money to a Jacksonian fleshhouse.”

“Which one?” Orth asks. He’s got the slightly abstracted look he gets when he has five tabs open in addition to the call.

“Uh, whichever one uses ‘Merchandisers Inc.’ as a shell,” Mako says. “I don’t keep tabs on them.” Orth raises an eyebrow at him. “I’ll research it on the way,” Mako sighs. 

“Thank you, Mako,” Orth says. “Can I ask you a favor?” He pauses. “I’m not sure I trust the security of the room I’m in right now. Can we call over dinner, or are you leaving before that?”

“No, dinner would be great,” Mako says. He dances in front of the camera. “I know a great place if you’re still on Apostolos!”

“What, fried chicken?” Orth smiles. At Mako!

“No, no, wings! Keshan wings!”

“Keshan … wings? On Apostolos?” Orth shakes his head. “This I have got to see. Send Offset the location and I’ll call you from there in ah, three hours.”

“Six thirty it is!” Mako says. “See you then!”


	10. A Root

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for implications of off screen rape and general creepy stuff. That's all after the third ***.  
> \-------

The Keshan wings place is crowded. Orth leans against the wall outside, Ambition tucked into a pocket while he browses the menu. “Kesh doesn’t have any poultry to eat the wings of,” he remarks to Offset. “But the spices sound authentically Keshan.” 

“Since when do you care about authenticity in your fast food?” Offset asks. “I EMPed a bench in the park over there. Should have taken out any electronic listeners, and Takeoff’s setting up the long range baffler. You know, you need to hire more bodyguards.”

Orth sighes. “You tell me that and then never offer any candidates,” he says. “Find people you’re willing to work with and I’ll run them past Ambition.”

“Sure, boss,” Offset says. 

“Order 10? Order 10, you’re up!” Orth goes to pick up the takeout bag, Offset shadowing him.

“Thank you,” Orth says to the server.

“You enjoy your date, folks,” they say. Orth smiles.

“And you have a good night.” To Offset he adds, “I got you and Takeoff handpies.” The door to the restaurant closes behind them and Ambition resumes its orbit.

“Thanks, I hate handpies,” Offset says. “I never know what’s in them.”

“It’s a surprise!” Orth says. “No, I got you vegetables and bumbleberry jam. Not even in the same pastry.”

“Actually thanks, then,” Offset says. Her scheduler flashes and she smirks. “You enjoy your date with Mako.”

“Ha-ha,” Orth says dryly. He grins the grin that makes people remember that he fought in two wars and won them both. Ambition grows so bright that Offset has to shield her eyes against it. “Dig up those plans for Jackson, would you? Some people are  _ not  _ going to enjoy my ‘date’.”

 

*** 

Jackson is stupidly hot, and Mako’s had to clean up three caches of Rigor fragments already. Someone apparently decided that hiding the things in a bunker for a couple of years would let the whole ‘Rigor is bad’ thing blow over, and then they could work on them.

They can’t now.

But Jackson isn’t just another place where people with more money than sense hide things they should know it's stupid to have. It’s a place where morals go to die. 

This is the sort of place where you can get anything you want. Anything. Yeah, even that. 

The workers are terrified, the middle managers are smug and terrified, and the people in charge are smug, immoral, vicious creeps. That favor Mako’s doing Orth?

He’d have done that if  _ Ibex  _ asked him. He drops the second send-only node between antennae on a rooftop and hops down to where he can hook into the ethernet cable between buildings. Jackson is paranoid, and  _ way _ too many things are hard-wired for Mako to use his usual methods. 

It’s a pain in the ass. The techniques the Rapid Evening taught him for situations like this are riskier and take longer. But everything has a weakness. Usually where someone cut corners, like here. Sure, an ethernet cable is safer than the mesh, but this one is just hanging out here between two ancient buildings. 

Peeling back the cable’s coverings and twisting a wire in among the rest is easy -- the hard part is not leaving a trace. The Mako Trig who was afraid of the dark could have done it better, but --

Mako’s gone along the skyline before he can get too deep into moping. Rigor doesn’t have time for regrets. 

 

***

Mako is a client of a Jacksonian fleshhouse  _ fuck this.  _ He smiles and smiles and pretends he’s Aria. Maybe he should be pretending to be AuDy, because AuDy apparently did this.

“The developmental facilities are just over here, Mr. Smith,” the terrified middle manager sent to speak to the  _ very  _ wealthy potential client from Brahma says. 

“Thank you,” Mako says, twirling his fake moustache.The developmental facilities are clean and white, with exercise machines and people doing physical therapy routines Mako recognizes.

Something’s wrong, though. The medical professionals in their clean white suits are terrified, but the people exercising…

They have strange blank faces.

“These clones are all pre-personality,” the middle manager says. “Several of these are intended for life extension surgery, but a few are meant for  _ companionship _ .”

“Ah, I see,” Mako says. “Are post-personality clones held at this facility?”

“Oh, no, sir,” the middle manager says. “Of course, people undertaking life-extension surgery are  _ people _ , and therefore are treated in the excellent hospitals we collaborate with.”

“And the companions?” Mako asks for completeness’ sake. He’s dropped his bug on the edge of the log-in computer here as he leans against it, quite deliberately getting in everyone’s way. 

“Training facilities,” the middle manager says, flushing. “There are visiting hours, sir?”

“No, no thank you,” Mako says, and waves a hand grandly. “My husband would be  _ quite  _ displeased if I didn’t take him. No, this tour will be enough to be going on with. I have to make sure my dearest one can consider all the possibilities.”

“Of course, Mr. Smith,” the middle manager says. “This way, please?”

Mako gets out.


	11. A Trace

Mako drops the cloth in the middle of wiping the stupid brown off his face. 

“AuDy’s a  _ Divine _ ,” he tells La-- his reflection in the mirror. “ _ I can find Divines. _ ” Mako opens a visual tab covering half of the mirror while he wipes off the rest of the skin-paint, revealing his natural blue. “Maybe I wouldn’t have had to pretend to be evil Aria if I’d thought of that.” He shakes his head. “No, I still want to know what AuDy’s doing with the fleshhouse.” He flicks open the file his bug has already sent him from the fleshhouse’s records, looking for the bank account AuDy used. Getting the paint out from under his fingernails is a real pain, but people notice the most  _ stupid  _ things. 

The fleshhouse is obnoxiously good at not attaching payment method to service. It takes Mako several hours to find out what AuDy bought.

An Apostolosian body medical details blah blah blah aesthetic details blah bla-- picture of Cass. AuDy bought a body that looks like  _ Cass.  _

“Cass  _ doesn’t  _ like having tiens name used like that,” Mako mutters. The body was to be prepared for personality download from the mesh. “Did AuDy somehow  _ back Cass up _ ?” Mako chews on his fingernails, a bad habit that  _ ruins  _ his nail polish. “ _ How? _ Did they back  _ me  _ up?”

And which would be worse, if they didn’t or if they did? Mako takes his fingers out of his mouth. 

“AuDy’s a Divine. I can find Divines. I’m going to find AuDy.” Mako fogs into himself, walking around Order’s chessboard, dodging by Zeal’s rank of weapons, to where he planted the seed in Rigour’s gears.

It’s a forest now. Great trees of kinds Mako has never seen reaching up into the sky of his mind. It’s not peaceful, though. It’s … energizing. Fuck, Mako filled his mind with Divines who demand  _ activity _ . And also Order.

Mako reaches out, lays hands on two trees pretty much at random, and fills his mind with the scent of the forest. 

_ This  _ is what he’s looking for.

 

***

 

AuDy is in the mesh. The scent of the forest is everywhere, and nowhere seems more full of it than anywhere else. Mako roof-hops, planting the sending nodes Orth needs placed to guide him in the appropriate places. Zeal rattles a weapon in the back of his mind, a sharply golden sound. 

“Hush,” Mako mutters. Yeah, he’s bringing this entire rotten system down, and yeah, the reformed Oriconers Orth will be bringing will do their best, but… He’s looking for AuDy, not for the ringing gold of revolution. There are riots ahead. Mako dashes through the chaotic skyline of Jackson City toward the noise and the smoke. 

Wait, he  _ wasn’t  _ looking for that. But he can smell something, something more in addition to the forest-smells of AuDy. Salt. Seawater. 

It’s familiar. It’s … He smelled it on September, that last time. It wasn’t Voice, it wasn’t Rigor. It had been hidden. Zeal’s chiming gold fills his ears, and Mako has to pull himself back. The rustle of leaves. The scent-taste of sea salt. 

It’s drawing him to the center of the riots all the same.


	12. A Taint

The blue-skinned man’s name is Mako, and Cass knows that the same way tine knows tiens name is Cass and that tine has more to remember. The people clamor for leadership, for direction, but they know where they’re going.

Cass points. There’s a chaotic yell and the people surge past the tank. Cass holds tienself back. Mako needs tinem, needs medical care. Needs to be pried off the tank’s antenna for Cass to treat his hands, but he doesn’t want it and--

Cass wraps the scrapes on Mako’s leg where the cop’s attempt to pull him off had torn his pants and left his bare skin to take damage from the tank. The people are going to tear down the electrified gate and drive violently into the compound.

The people are--  _ No! _ There are innocents in there! Children, servants, people doing their insufficient bests. 

Cass curls Mako up around his antenna, tucks bandages and a sanitizer in between his knees and elbows, and yells for attention.

“We are the power!” The people cheer. “We are the people! We are the good of Jackson!” More cheering. Cass’ mind scatters, one part saying what the people need to hear, and one part frantically coming up with a plan.

“We will march to their gates and make our demands!” The people are… less pleased.

“They will release their hostages, their victims! They will return to us the children they hold, they will return to us our siblings they have made to work beneath their heels!” Now the people are cheering again.

Somewhat under control. Under control?

Cass used to lead. And plan. This is a bad plan. 

Maybe tine will come up with a better one soon. But the voices and needs of the people of Jackson beat into tiens head and make it hard to think. 

_ Eidolons, _ tine hopes AuDy’s promised back-up comes  _ soon. _ Sokrates would know what to do with this passionate crowd. 

Cass is just going to try to keep them from doing things they’ll regret.

 

***

 

Orth’s flotilla is better at following the  _ Autonomy _ ’s lead than it should be. But then, Orth can always find a taxi. He already knew AuDy was keeping an eye on him. 

And Mako’s send-only beacons might be getting swept off-line almost as soon as they come online, but that only makes them more believable.

Not that they’re lies, exactly. The people of Jackson  _ do _ want rescue. They just aren’t used to think of a  _ collective _ rescue rather than an  _ individual  _ one.

Each beacon sends out a plea from someone who  _ did  _ make it off. What they would have said if they were still there.

But no, Orth won’t let Ambition grow up in self-deception.

He’s lying. 

For a good cause and a good reason, but they aren’t going down to a popular uprising being shot out of the streets. Just frightened half-starving people supporting a devouring edifice of power like a thousand other worlds. 

“I guess I’m not that good at being retired,” he remarks aloud. 

Ambition’s golden laughter can’t be heard by any ears but his, unless AuDy’s in the pilot’s seat Orth left empty for them.


	13. A Talk

Mako is reminded of his body by the insistent ringing of his ‘you haven’t eaten in ten hours’ alarm. He groans. That last antiviral program had been  _ nasty. _ He sets his food alarm to its twenty minute snooze and checks his head for remnants. There are some stray pieces of code slammed into a grid above the fragment of Order, but otherwise Mako’s emergency shutdown seems to have worked. 

Stillness is the ultimate state of order. 

Mako pries open his eyes. Ow bright. Ow his hands. 

Just generally ow.

Oh, hey! Someone left him some medical supplies, that was nice of them. Mako applies them to his hands and slides off to go look for food. His alarm’s going to go off again like any minute now and he made it annoying.

Hey, the riot moved on and the streets are, like, only mildly absolutely destroyed. That’s cool. The shops are all closed though, oh hey who’s that?

It’s a robot!

Hello robot!

“Hello, Mako. You are being stupid,” the robot says.

“You always say that,” Mako complains. “I’m trying to find food because I didn’t eat because I was unconscious. That’s not stupid --oh.” Mako takes the emergency bar out of his emergency pocket and tears open the packaging. “You’re still obnoxious,” he tells AuDy with his mouth full.

“Yes. Cass is at the compound,” the robot says, and goes still as AuDy leaves it.

Mako finishes his emergency bar. “Always has to get the last word,” he mutters. Maybe there’ll be a restaurant or something on the way to the compound. Those bars taste really bad. “Man, I could really go for some Keshan wings.”

 

***

 

Orth calls Mako as soon as the fleet is in range of Jackson. The ring goes on for several seconds before he picks up. 

“Mako, what  _ happened? _ ” Orth leans forward, pointlessly, toward the screen. Mako has scratches all over his face, a smear of blood down one cheek, and bandages on the hand he raises to wipe at it.

“Huh? Oh. The rebellion.” Mako shrugs. “Hey, Orth?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t try to hack a tank while a riot goes around it.”

Orth sits back in his chair and sighs. “I’ll try to avoid it. Why did  _ you  _ do that?”

“Well, it was going to shoot the riot. And it had a connection into the military mesh.” Mako rubs his face. “I blew up a lot of weapons.”

“Good job, Mako,” Orth says. Mako’s face brightens as a strained smile stretches across it. Orth’s own mouth twitches in response. “Where can I pick you up?”

“Uhhh,” Mako says. “I think AuDy told me to go to the compound? Like, the really rich people living compound. Also they downloaded the Apokine mech into a body that looks like Cass and kine’s leading a rebellion.”

Orth rubs his face with his hands. “And here I was coming to terms with the fact that I was lying.”

Mako cackles.

“I’ll see you at the compound soon,” Orth says. “And we’ll deal with… the  _ Apokine _ … as best we can.” Mako gives him two thumbs up and a stuck out tongue and ends the call.

Orth sighs and flicks a glance toward his Divine. “We’ve got some work ahead of us.” Ambition rings with possibility.


	14. A Divine

The room is full of familiar faces. Names rise slowly through the people’s shouting, into the part of tiens mind tine is carving out for tinemself.

Addax Dawn. Jace Rethal. Orth Godlove. Apotine Argus. Jamil Quartz-Noble.

The people want things to get better. The people want things to calm down. The people want these people in this room to … to …

Cass rubs at tiens eyes. 

“And this is Cass,” Sweet Regalia says, tapping Cass’ hand under the table. “Tine’s good at figuring out what the people want in aggregate.” Cass nods fractionally to her. It’s the right word.

“And what do the people want?” Orth Godlove says, and the look in his eyes is … all too familiar. Cass doesn’t like it.

“Peace,” Cass says. “Food, water, shelter, the company of the people they love.”

Jace laughs. Addax rolls his eyes. “Longer term.”

“To not be afraid,” Cass says. Tiens hands begin to move absently, and Sweet slides paper under them and hands them a stylus. It’s a sketch of a governmental structure that takes shape under tiens hands. 

It tastes of salt, and Cass remembers it. 

Six branches. The Defense, the Infrastructure, the Education, the Trade, the Justice, and the Voice of the People. 

“Representative body,” Sweet reminds tinem. Tine nods. The language keeps escaping tinem, sliding back and forth through Apostolosian, Trade, and Oricon. No-one is going to be able to understand this. 

“You’re getting a little blue under the gills, Cass,” Jace says. Cass looks at him. “Have you got a pool to sleep in?”

Cass blinks. “Jacksons are humans,” tine says. The people need beds.

Sweet wraps an arm around tiens shoulders and pulls tinem close. “Tine just came out of a personality download. Tine sometimes gets a little confused, is all.”

“I’m sure tine will be fine after some sleep,” Addax sooths. “We just want to make sure tine’s sleeping in the right way for an Apostolosian.”

“You knew my sibling,” Cass says, pieces clicking into place in tiens mind. “You knew Sokrates.” Addax’s face flashes with an emotion too fast and implacable for Cass’ strained mind to process. 

“Sokrates would want you to sleep,” he says. 

“There need to be beds,” Cass says vaguely. “For the people.” Tine hugs Sweet back. “I’m thirsty.”


	15. A Friend

 Mako stares at the tank. He's seen Cass sick before, he's seen the equipment Koda Whitegloves keeps for emergency treatment of Apostolosians, and this is... concerningly closer to that second one.  
  
Allegedly-Cass Definitely-Apokine lies on the bottom of the tank without any apparent interest in moving. Kis gils are wide open. Not oozing any kind of mucous, like Cass' do when tine has a cold or whatever, just... open. Moving only in the current of the tank.  
  
Allegedly-Cass' new friend Sweet Regalia huddles by the side of the tank, eyes wide and anxious. "You didn't know," Mako tells her. "Apostolosians look a lot more human than they are, so it's hard to tell when they're sick."  
  
"I had to remind them to drink," Sweet says, "I didn't think."  
  
"Did anyone teach you about Apostolosian medical needs?" Orth asks. He's leaning against the wall, trying to be nonthreatening.  
  
He has a lot of practice at that, but his clothes fit too well. He's built. Or maybe that's just something Mako notices because he wants a hug.  
  
"Nooo," Sweet admits.  
  
"Then it's not your fault," Orth says. "It's the fault of the people who decided that all you needed to know was what your intended duties immediately required. We're going to need to set up a lot of educational aid. At least most people can read."  
  
"Well, what if someone wanted to leave us notes?" Sweet curls up around her feet.  
  
"Now you can read whatever you like," Orth says. "Though you might want to start with something on Apostolosian health. I'm sure Addax has something." Addax winces.  
  
There's something going on there but Mako doesn't have time for it right now. "Why're they on the bottom? They aren't supposed to be on the bottom."  
  
"Their float-bladders aren't working right," Addax says. "That's supposed to be an autonomous behavior, like breathing. Mako, there's a Divine in there, isn't there." It's not a question.  
  
"There sure is!" Mako says. "The divine Apokine! Which Cass didn't like being whole heck of a lot!"  
  
"You're a Stratus, and you have training. Can you do something to it?"  
  
Mako blinks. "Sure thing. Just let me touch them or something. Um." Mako looks at the tank. It comes up to about his shoulders, probably. "I could get in there."  
  
"We'll lift them up," Orth says. He walks to the tank and leans over it. "Addax, do you have that thing ready?"  
  
"Yes," Addax says.  
  
"Sweet Regalia, when Cass gets in range, hold their hand, please," Orth says. Sweet nods, coming to stand beside him at the tank. "Mako, you can hold that hand."  
  
"Sure!" Mako says. How is Orth planning to get Cass off the bottom of the tank? He's not going to get in with his boots on. That would be super unsanitary.  
  
Ambition floats away from its usual orbit runs itself under one of the portable sterilizers on the wall. Mako is beginning to understand as it plonks into the water and dives down toward allegedly-Cass' still body. Sweet Regalia's eyes go wide and she gasps.  
  
Allegedly-Cass begins to float up as Ambition gets closer to the floor of the tank, high enough that it can pass under them. And then higher for its second orbit, and higher still, until they float just under the surface of the water and Addax can close the physical supports beneath them.  
  
"That may just be the most dramatic mundane use of Divine power I have ever seen," Addax says. He looks supremely unimpressed. For a moment Mako is offended on Ambition's behalf, but then he remembers the great bulk of Order and its overwhelming power. Ambition is just a baby Divine by comparison. Also actually because it's only existed for like five years.  
  
Mako reaches out and takes allegedly-Cass' hand. Time to fog his fourth Divine.  
  
Third.  
  
He hadn't needed to fog Zeal.


	16. An Arena

Mako isn't certain what he's looking for at first. Fogging Cass' brain isn't really like fogging himself or a Divine or anything else. For one thing, it's annoyingly organic. There's no real reason Mako can determine -- it's not like there's viscera or blood. It's a blank, empty white hall that stretches on forever. It just feels strangely organic, unlike the chessboard of Order, or even AuDy's trees. It's weird.  
  
  
Mako does know that he's found what he's looking for, eventually. He hears it long before he can see it. Yelling. Not the unified roar of a crowd at a game or concert, but the discordant buzz of a hundred thousand people all talking at once.  
  
  
Mako turns left, and the strangely organic empty white hall empties into the top row of an amphitheater. It's enormous. It was probably beautiful, once upon a time, but it's entirely too hot to appreciate. And loud.  
  
  
There are literally hundreds of thousands of people in it. The people on the far side are so far away that their faces are just colored blurs. Closer to Mako are genetically-engineered people that you might see on Glimmer -- or Jackson --, strangely colored eyes and hair and skin. Some even look like rats or otters or bears.  
  
  
They're all shouting down at the center of the amphitheater.  
  
  
Far down at the center of the amphitheater, alone and vastly outnumbered, is a familiar form. Cass. Mako tears down the steps, then decides that fuck it, this is too slow, and jumps onto the railing, sliding down for what feels like an eternity until he wipes out at the place where the railing meets the high wall surrounding Cass in the center of the arena.  
  
  
Mako hits the ground and rolls, just barely managing to avoid smashing into Cass' legs. Cass doesn't seem to notice him. Tine is trying to reason or argue with the people closest to tinem.  
  
  
As far as Mako can tell, the people at the wall are airing their grievances. With what? Mako has no idea, but Cass seems to understand, and is trying to answer, to explain. The problem is that every time Cass opens tiens mouth, another person jumps in with a different issue. And for whatever reason, Cass rushes to deal with the new person instead of ignoring the interruption to finish with the first one.  
  
  
Mako levers himself painfully to his feet and tries to call out to Cass. In the center of the amphitheater it's so loud it makes Mako's head ring. Cass can't hear him. So Mako grabs Cass by the arm, pulling himself up to yell in tiens ear. Cass shakes him off to talk to someone else, and Mako realizes that this isn't Cass.  Well, not all tinem, anyway. Salt and sea.  
  
  
Apokine.  
  
  
Well, Mako knows how to fog Divines, and he does it now, fogging into Apokine while fogging Cass. The volume in the center of the amphitheater diminishes immediately to a distant roar. Cass pauses, looking up and around in confusion. Tine stares at Mako for a long time before speaking.  
  
  
"Mako? Mako Trig?"  
  
  
"In the flesh!" Mako exclaims, spreading his arms wide to cover his confusion and concern. Cass strides toward him with frightening intensity, catching Mako's arms in tiens hands and almost lifting him off his feet.  
  
  
"They won't listen," Cass says with a manic desperation, "I keep trying and trying to explain. but they won't listen, they can't hear me, Mako." This close, Cass' skin is dry and ashen-looking, tiens scales dull from lack of attention. Cass' eyes are reddened, gills open too far and visibly irritated by the sand. Mako realizes with a jolt that Cass is dehydrated and losing tiens mind from it.  
  
  
Mako grasps Cass' arms with his own hands.  "They're too busy yelling, man. They can't hear you over themselves. It's like, a thing."  
  
  
"Mako," Cass says, and it's a desperate entreaty, "They can't hear me. I can't help them, Mako." In a weird way, it almost sounds like Cass is begging Mako for a reason to stop trying. Well, he can give tinem that.  
  
  
There's a crack overhead and the sky opens up on them. It rains lightly at first, and then with a pounding, drenching ferocity.  The people in the amphitheater are driven, screaming, from their seats.  
  
  
Cass stares up at the rain in childish awe, tiens hands still clutching Mako's arms. Cass closes tiens eyes, face turned blissfully up into the driving rain. Mako personally feels like a drowned rat, but Cass looks so relieved he can't bring himself to say anything.  
  
  
When the sand under their feet has softened into a swampy sludge and Cass' hair is plastered to tiens face with water, tine looks at Mako again, tiens expression no longer manic.  Tine pulls Mako into a painfully tight hug, almost squeezing the life out of him.  
  
  
"I'm so glad you're here," Cass whispers into Mako's shulder, "I was so lost."  
  
  
Well, Mako doesn't know much, but he does know he's allergic to these sorts of displays of emotion, and if Cass starts crying on his shoulder it's all going to be over. So he tickles Cass like the sort of shithead he is. Cass howls with laughter and tries to escape. Tine's unsuccessful until one of the amphitheater's walls blow in, bringing a wall of water with it.  
  
  
Mako tumbles end over end as the water washes them both into a river, and then out to an ocean. Cass, being Apostolosian and accustomed to swimming, cuts gracefully through the water. Tine looks like a dazzling, bejeweled sort of fish. TIne's beautiful.  
  
  
Mako is ungainly and awkward, staying to the surface, until he remembers he can breath underwater. He's a shark. He's always been a shark. Not really, but here in Cass' mindscape he absolutely is.  
  
  
Suddenly, Mako can keep up with Cass, who looks surprised, then laughs joyously. It's the most expression Mako's ever seen on Cass' face. Mako nudges tinem and darts away in teasing invitation.  
  
  
He has no idea how long they've been playing tag when they're accosted by an enormous school of brightly-colored fish.  Apokine has returned to present kis grievances. Cass' face ages decades in a second, and Mako decides that this is bullshit. He tries to eat the fish. He even succeeds, sort of . He gets one fish down his throat before the others scatter away.  
  
  
The fish is a scientist from Weight, regretting the fact that he came and wishing to be back home with his husband. It's kind of weird and Mako doesn't like it. He catches more fish because Cass is losing tiens mind and Mako can't let that happen to his friend.  
  
  
Once the sea is devoid of nuisances Mako boops Cass with his now-massive nose and tries to lead tinem off for more play. Unfortunately, Cass looks kind of depressed, and tag isn't going to happen anymore.  
  
  
Mako swims casual circles around Cass because sharks can't breath if they stay still, and, more importantly, Mako is restless. Cass swims a little, but slowly, as if tine knows exactly where tine's going. Mako follows.  
  
After some time spent silently swimming, a cave comes into view. Mako wouldn't have noticed it, but it has kelp in front of it. Nowhere else in this ocean has kelp in it, and when he and Cass get closer, he can see that it's weird kelp, as well. It looks more like a weeping willow tree than kelp.  
  
Cass brushes past the strange tree-kelp without a second thought, but when Mako passes through, he gets the impression of green growing things. AuDy.  
  
Then Mako almost runs into Cass, who has stopped to look around the cave in disbelief.  
  
"Cass?"  
  
  
"I had a getaway when I was young," Cass murmurs, and Mako falls reverently silent. There's a feedback whine from deeper in the cave and a computer setup that Mako doesn't recognize. It puts a familiar look on Cass' face. It's that expression Cass wears when planning... well, anything. Focused and determined.  
  
  
Cass takes a seat, watching video of a crying young woman getting yelled at by an older woman on one screen, an angry person with a gun on another, a teenaged boy beating the shit out of another teenaged boy on a third, and so on and so forth. On and on, an endless flood of images and voices in a bank of screens.  
  
  
Cass spares a moment to look at Mako. "I can't leave them. I must help."  
  
  
Mako nudges the power cord out of the wall and everything goes dark. This is Apokine in another guise and Cass has already had enough trouble getting tinemself out once.  
  
  
"Just promise me you'll come out for air sometime?"  
  
  
"But--"  
  
  
"Promise," Mako insists, and Cass' face softens.  
  
  
"I promise, Mako. You won't lose me again." Tine stands up and plugs the set up back in. The screens show different images now. A pair of men lacing their fingers together, then walking into a house still holding hands. A person triumphantly closing the chassis of a bot that sits up and reaches out to caress the human's face. Three women smugly staring down an ashen-faced man, arms linked together against him.  
  
  
Cass peers at the new images on the screen, then looks at Mako. "I think we've reached an understanding."  
  
  



	17. A Hope

Mako fogs out of Cass and opens his eyes in the hospital room. Cass' hand is a more normal kind of cold in his. Mako looks down. Tiens gills move in the steady flutter that is sleeping breath for an Apostolosian. 

"Much improved," Addax says from the wall.  He's looking at a stack of medical readouts. Mako could try to figure out what they say, or he could squeeze Cass' hand and lower it gently back into the water. Tiens color is better, too. 

"They came to an understanding," Mako says. "When you have tine by the protective instinct, tiens hearts and mind will follow."

"Apostolosians only have one _heart_ ," Addax says in the tone of someone who's had to explain this waaaay too many times. "The organ commonly called their second heart is actually a part of the system that allows them swap between gill and lung breathing. While it does -- Never mind."

"You sure do know a lot about Apostolosian medicine!" Mako chirps. Orth is going to have to explain why this is touching Addax's emotions like this eventually. 

"Aren't we lucky." Addax says. "And I know enough about human medicine to know that all of you should be in bed."

Sweet Regalia is still clutching Cass' hand.  Mako walks around the tank to pat her shoulder. "Tine's going to be all right now. You can sleep." She turns dry red eyes to him.

"Will tine still like me?"

"What? Yeah!" Mako blinks at her. "Okay maybe I don't know you and maybe Cass hasn't been in tiens right mind, but you were taking care of tinem when tine _wasn't_ in tiens right mind and that means you take care of people who are in bad places and tine likes that kind of thing."

"But... I didn't really know tinem, I guess."

"Ms. Regalia," Orth says, coming up behind them and putting one hand on Mako's shoulder and one on hers, "You're going to find the Cass you know in the Cass who wakes up. I promise."

"But how can you know?" Sweet looks up at him, and her eyes must be aching. 

Ambition lowers itself to be in her easy view. "None of tiens ambitions have changed," Orth says. "This is Ambition, the Divine. It knows, and it told me."

"Oh," Sweet says, and reaches up a hesitant hand to touch the golden ball. It cuddles into her palm, glowing. The smile that spreads across her face is brighter. "Oh, it's friendly!" Orth smiles. Mako leans up against him.

Addax coughs in the background. They all turn to him, and Ambition leaves Sweet with a final nudge to resume its usual orbit. "You all need to _sleep._ Mr. Trig, Mr. Godlove, I believe you have your own beds to go to." Addax glares at them. "Ms. Regalia, if you want to stay with Cass until tine wakes up, I'll unfold the bed from the wall you're standing by, and you can sleep there. After you eat and wash, of course."

Mako tugs on Orth and turns to go. 

"We'll speak tomorrow," Orth says.

"Yes, we will," Addax says. "Mr. Trig. You haven't reported in some time. Perhaps when you are _rested_ we can get an update. For now," he makes an adorable gesture, "Shoo."

Mako sticks his tongue out at him, because Addax always makes him want to act like a child or a secret agent from a movie, and he's too tired to be dignified. 

"Tomorrow, Addax. Ms. Regalia. Sleep well, both of you." Orth presses his fingers to Cass' forehead for a moment, then turns to go. He does that trick he does where Mako's hand is somehow in the crook of his arm even though Mako didn't put it there, and they leave together. At the doorway, Mako turns around. 

"Hey, Sweet!" She blinks at him. "Thanks for being a good listener."

She doesn't look like she understands now, but it'll come. Maybe tomorrow, when Cass wakes up and starts organizing the world. Maybe later. 

Anyway, Mako said it. He can always say it again if she doesn't remember. He goes with Orth.

Orth's ship is just a little walk away, and Takeoff collects them before they can be accosted by any of the many many people who need things. Orth clings to Mako's hand. He needs sleep. He should probably have a bath before he goes to sleep, because Orth likes baths a weirdly large amount. 

Maybe a hug. 

Mako's probably just projecting. 

But when they get inside Orth's ship, Offset immediately hands Mako a container of fried rice and some chopsticks before dragging Orth off to the bathroom. Mako eats, just standing there in the middle of the hallway, and doesn't think about anything much. 

***

Addax sighs. They're having this conversation in an awkward corner of the building that Orth's minions have turned into the beginning of a government office, and it isn't that comfortable.

It is private, though.

Mako, perched on a heater and kicking his feet, waits. Addax leans against the wall with his eyes closed. Mako kicks the heater in a rhythm from one of Aria's songs. Thump thump _thump_ thump thump-thump thump.

"Who do you work for?" Addax asks at last. Mako blinks.

"Uh, what?"

"You _do_ work. You do a lot of work," Addax says. "It's the same work you did before the Rigor war, when we hired you for it."

"Right," Mako says. "I hunt down and destroy Rigor technology, and expose the people who use it to law enforcement when it makes sense."

"If we asked you to do something else, would you?" 

"Maybe?" Mako shrugs. "If it seemed like a good idea."

"What if we offered you money?" Addax doesn't seem surprised. Just tired. 

"Nah, I got money. I'll do things for information and stuff, though. Like, backup and things." Addax looks Mako in the face. It's the first time since he dragged Mako out here. "I can't be dragging Orth places _all_ the time."

Addax rubs his face. "Right. So would you be willing to work with a group of Rapid Evening agents?"

"Eh," Mako says. "You guys have a bunch of different stuff you do now. Like, stuff I don't do. I don't care about politics that much."

"Unless it's Orth's politics."

"Well, yeah. I trust Orth."

"You don't trust me?" Addax's mouth is twisted up at one corner.

"Man, I piloted your Divine for a bit. It's scary." Addax raises a stern eyebrow at him. "I respect the hell out of you," Mako adds.

"But you don't trust me."

Mako kicks the heater some more, thinking about that. "I dunno."

"That's a no, then." Addax sighs. "Mr. Trig, you were a very good contractor for the Rapid Evening for a time. But we would have appreciated notification that you were _quitting._ "

"Ohhhh," Mako says. "I mean, quitting makes it sound like I stopped doing the job, which I _totally didn't._ "

"Mako," Addax says patiently, "You _totally did._ You stopped doing the job of working for the Rapid Evening, and started doing the job of destroying Rigor tech without caring about anything else."

"I care about stuff!" Mako says. "I care about my friends, and I care about learning things, and I care about justice, and I care about chicken wings." _And organizing things_ Mako doesn't say because he hates that he cares about it.

"Chicken wings?" Addax says. 

"Hey, a guy's gotta have a hobby."

"I suppose you do," Addax says, "And I should be glad it's something so..." The pause is horrifyingly awkward. "Innocuous."

"I'm _super_ innocuous!" Mako grins at him. "I'm hardly venomous at all."

Addax chuckles. "I'm sure you're not. But you are dangerous." Mako looks at him with deep suspicion. Addax stares over Mako's head, mouth twisted. At last, he sighs. "It would be nice to know where you are and what you're planning on taking down next," he says. "It would let us organize collaboration."

"Uh-huh," Mako says. He and Addax stare at each other some more. "It's not like you guys have embassies all over the place that I could talk to when I was stopping by or anything," Mako says, and comes to an awkward realization. "I mean, you the Rapid Evening, not you, Kesh."

"Would you ever travel with somebody else?" 

"Like, some Rapid Evening agent? Hell no. I don't need a handler."

"What about Cass?"

Mako can't... there are a lot of things Mako can't forget that go with Cass in one way or another. All the time with the Chime, the arena and the ocean and the cave, the way Cass hates hates _hates_ being considered an absolute authority and...

"I don't know what Cass is gonna want," Mako says. "And _I'm_ not the one who knows about Apostolosian medicine."  

Maybe Addax isn't ashamed anymore, or maybe he knows that Mako doesn't know what that means, because he doesn't flinch. "I'm sure Cass can teach you," he says, and turns away. "Just keep an open mind," he adds, and walks out. 

Mako stares after him.

"Well, that was weird."


End file.
